


Love Is Christmas

by IrisofParadise



Category: Black Widow (Comics), Daredevil (TV)
Genre: Adopted Sibling Relationship, Christmas Fluff, College AU, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, M/M, Original Character(s), Yelena Belova/Natasha Romanoff - Freeform, as side pairing, but they're a pretty big part too?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-08
Updated: 2017-01-08
Packaged: 2018-09-15 17:23:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9247892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IrisofParadise/pseuds/IrisofParadise
Summary: Matt is a foreign exchange student in Russia and really, the last thing he expected was to be roped into a fake relationship.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Originally, this WAS going to be a oneshot. And then the idea just took off and went so far past the stop sign I crashed into a ditch adn my car is now on fucking fire. At first I had something completely different in mind for this? And then I just kept typing and all of a sudden I had 6 pages of backstory? y i k e s  
> So here. Have Matt in Russia because I think we can all agree that we need that.  
> And Yelena being adopted into the Ranskahov family because I needed that.  
> Also, I have so many OCs for this. I originally made them all for a different fic, fell in love with them because I have no self control, and boom.  
> Also,  
> \- I get the biggest bit of fun and amusement writing Vladimir and Yelena as children and I'm not sorry  
> \- this fic has Yelena roasting the fUck out of Vladimir more than mattimir I think and I'm not sorry  
> \- I'm so sorry if this stops making sense in certain parts. I was drunk because I lost the will continue and needed alcohol
> 
> Enjoy!

Ekaterina Ranskahova loved children. A good thing, considering she had five sons, the eldest being eleven years older than her youngest. She had wanted a daughter for so long and after many years of talking with her husband they had decided to foster a child. 

Another two years and they were bringing a young seven-year-old girl home. She was just two years younger than their youngest son. Young Yelena Belova wasn't an orphan; both of her parents were still alive. Her life had been turned upside down when she was five years old and taken away from her alcoholic parents by two social workers. 

The Ranskahov family household lived in a small three bedroom home that now held six children. 

Vasily was the eldest at twenty. Anatoly was the second eldest, just two years younger than Vasily, while four years separated him from the middle child, Nikolai. One year between Nikolai and Aleksandr who  was four years older than the youngest boy, Vladimir. Much to the amusement of all, the first four boys took right after their father in appearance for the most part, while Vladimir was the only to take after their mother.

Ekaterina and her husband had one room to themselves, while their sons on the other hand had had to rearrange who slept in the remaining two bedrooms. Originally, Vasily and Anatoly shared one room leaving their three younger brothers to have their own. But since Yelena was moving in, the four elder of the five brothers moved to share a room, leaving Vladimir to bunk with Yelena. Aleksandr was going to room with Vladimir and Yelena but had pitched quite the fit and demanded that he stay with Nikolai. It had made Anatoly and Vasily both groan in annoyance and beg their mother to not force all four of them into a room together.

A beg that went ignored.

At first, it had seemed a terrible start. The very first night, right before Yelena had moved in, Vladimir had his bedroom to himself for the first time in his whole life. He'd looked smug the whole night at dinner while his brothers were trying not to show how annoyed they were at the whole situation. Cramming four boys into one room together was much easier said than done. So when Yelena had been brought to Vladimir's room, Ivan proudly proclaimed, "And this will be your room, Lenochka.”

Yelena had swiftly bit her bottom lip to keep from crying right there on the spot and only Ekaterina really seemed to notice. The blonde woman had quickly rubbed at the little girl's shoulder and smiled down at her reassuringly.

The nickname had been what her parents had called her when they were sober, only when they were happy. It brought back happy memories, but also memories clouded in the yelling from her parents. 

Vladimir though, he had pouted and once left alone with Yelena and stated, "I want the top bunk."

To which Yelena hadn't even paused from placing the few clothes she possessed into the dresser and snapped back, "You'll have to fight me for it, prissy boy." 

Not used to being back talked to so rudely, Vladimir had gaped much akin to that of a fish at the younger blonde girl before stomping his foot and yelling, "Mamochka!"

And after listening to her son and Yelena bicker for a few moments, Ekaterina had stated as calmly as a saint would, "Vovochka, уточка _(utochka/little duck)_ , let Elenushka have the top bunk."

Vladimir pouted and gave his mama _the_ _look_ , the one that always made her coddle him and give him whatever it was that he wanted. It seemed though that this time he wasn't getting his way. At least, not fully.

Ekaterina frowned at him in disapproval but didn't say anything about his childishness. Instead she said, "Next month if you still want the top bunk, you two can switch for a bit."

She quickly left the bedroom before either child could whine at her. It was a smart move on her part.

The glaring match doesn't stop though. In fact, it seems as though it intensifies the more the two are around each other. And later at lunch, the four elder brothers smirk and giggle quietly as Vladimir and Yelena do nothing but glare at each other. Ekaterina and Ivan pretend not to notice a thing and hope that the two blonde children can learn to get along.

As the day continues to move on Yelena tries to keep to herself. She stays inside and watches from the living room window as Nikolai, Aleksandr, and Vladimir play in the snow. Vasily had left with Ivan for grocery shopping and she can hear Ekaterina in the kitchen, humming happily, and she doesn't hear as Anatoly comes to sit on the other side of the couch. She only looks up, eyes wide and looking ready to fight, when she feels the couch dip slightly under his weight. 

Anatoly just smiles softly at her and glances out the window only to laugh as Aleksandr throws a snowball right at Nikolai's face. He points to his brothers and says, "Those two are abnormally close for siblings. Almost inseparable actually. They're barely a year apart."

Yelena nods. This wasn't news to her; Ekaterina, Ivan, and the social workers had told her about the Ranskahov family and what to expect months before she was finally able to live with the family. All she wants to do is sit by herself in silence. But Anatoly seems either unable to understand that or he's worried about her because he continues talking to her. 

"So what do you like to do for fun, Lena?"

She spares him a small glance, doesn't believe that he cares. But Anatoly is now looking right at her, and she blushes. She isn't used to people actually interested in what she has to say. 

“I…” she shrugs, tugs at the hem of her shirt. “I like to do ballet,” she states slowly, almost uncomfortably. 

Anatoly pretends he doesn’t notice her nervousness and nods, now grinning at her. “Ballet? Really?”

A small nod and her brows knit together in curiosity. Ballet wasn’t much of a shock for a Russian to be interested in, in her opinion. Many of the other children at the orphanage had enjoyed it as well. Though, Yelena not only enjoyed it, she loved it. It was fun. Even when she would mess up. She would just push herself to be better because she had to be the best.

The brunette claps his hands together, now looking excited. “Which is your favorite?”

Once more, Yelena is silent for a few moments too long. She tries to think of the few she’d learned to dance to. Which had the best story. The best music. There were so many to choose from. But finally she opens her mouth and answers quietly, all the while picking at the hem of her shirt, “Tchaikovsky’s  _ Swan Lake _ .”

If Yelena were honest, she half expects for Anatoly to just nod and leave her alone now. _Swan_ _Lake_ was popular by many so it wasn’t very surprising that a seven year old would like it.

But once more the second eldest Ranskahov son surprises her by nodding in full agreement and stating, “ _Swan_ _Lake_ is beautiful but my personal favorite is _The_ _Firebird_. I think that Stravinsky did an amazing job at composing it. What do you think?”

Yelena tugs softly at her sleeve and looks at her lap, nodding slowly. “I like it a lot. Kashchei scares me,” she admits quietly. She isn't sure why she'd slipped and let him know this. She wasn't used to sharing these types of details about herself and is worried about how Anatoly will react. 

Anatoly gives her a small smile, one that she does not see, and says comfortingly, “When I was your age he scared me too.” He leans closer to her and whispers, “Though, Baba Yaga scares me more. In fact, she still does.”

The blonde girl giggles. “Baba Yaga does not scare me,” she says proudly, a confident smirk on her once shy face. 

He laughs at her statement and ruffles her short hair a bit. It was a habit he did to his younger brothers when they amused him and he was unable to stop himself from treating Yelena as though she were also his sibling. Though, he thought to himself with a smile, she really was now.

Yelena decides right then that she likes Anatoly. 

But she has no opinion on the rest of the boys; she hasn’t been around Vasily for long enough to really form an opinion on the young man, or Nikolai and Aleksandr. Vladimir though... well, she hopes that they can get along. She'd much rather live in this home with five boys and parents that so obviously adore their children, her included now she supposed in wonder, than the cold orphanage where the elder children would often times bully the younger.

Hours later finds her in her nightclothes and climbing the ladder to scramble into the top bunk. It's just past eleven at night and Vladimir is still very obviously sore with her for winning the top bunk.

He'd always been stuck on the bottom. When he had shared a bedroom with his brothers, Nikolai and Aleksandr had always won the top bunk. Sometimes they won it by cheating. Vladimir was very much a glutton for cakes and candy and all four of his brothers were more than well aware of this fact. 

So he can't help but be a bit annoyed.  _ 'At least with Kolya and Shura I get candy so I don't really lose,' _ Vladimir thinks to himself as he glares up at the mattress above him. 

Falling asleep is difficult for Yelena, not so much for Vladimir. The bed is much more comfortable. It's quieter in the house. It feels much more like a home and that's something she hasn't had in two years. Longer if she’s completely honest.

Vladimir wakes up to her crying softly, smothering her cries into her pillow. He slowly rubs the sleep from his eyes and covers his mouth as he yawns. A moment and then he's quietly climbing from his bed to stand on the ladder so that he can look at Yelena. 

Almost as though the girl can feel his staring she raises her face from the pillow so that she can wipe the tears and snot away. She hopes that by doing so Vladimir won't notice that she's been crying, though she knows that it is a useless hope.

The blonde boy looks at her sadly, confused. It seems that his curiosity far outweighs his annoyance over the subject of losing the top bunk. "Why are you crying?"

"I'm not," Yelena denies, glaring at him coldly.

Vladimir just scoffs and rolls his eyes. "Sure, and I am Ded Moroz."

The two children are once more caught in a glaring match as the seconds tick by like hours. But finally Vladimir grows bored, overcome by the need to sleep really, and he just rolls his eyes once more and begins to climb back down the ladder. 

He pauses though as Yelena grabs at his sleeve and he frowns as he looks up at her. Her eyes are wide and still puffy from the crying and she looks nervous. He notes to himself that she's looked nervous since the first time they'd all met.

Vladimir thinks about how when he's scared or nervous or just woken from a nightmare. He knew he could always go to Anatoly and Anatoly would let him sleep with him. On more than one occasion Aleksandr had crawled into bed with Vladimir after Vladimir had woken up crying from nightmares. Aleksandr had even many a time been found holding onto Nikolai after one or both had woken up in the middle of the night.

So it's just reflex that Vladimir takes his hand from Yelena to slide down the rest of the ladder so that he can grab his pillow and toss it up at her. A hint of a smirk graces his face as he hears her let out a small yelp noise. He debates with himself for  just a moment about whether or not to leave his favorite stuffed bear in his bed but ultimately picks up the bear and then he crawls the rest of the way back up the ladder and nudges at her to scoot over.

He hands the old worn teddy bear to her.

"Her name is Masha the Bear," Vladimir answers her unasked confused question. "She likes eggs and borscht more than anything. Mama got her for me when I was very little." He tugs at the little red ribbon around the bear's neck. "Masha always makes me feel better after a bad dream."

The two children stare at the bear in silence a few moments longer until Yelena holds the bear close to her chest and whispers out a quiet thanks. 

The only answer she receives from Vladimir is a yawn and, "Goodnight, Lenosha," and then he is falling asleep. 

It's decided right then that Yelena likes Vladimir and he's her favorite in this family. 


	2. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think this is more Lena/Nat than anything woops
> 
> Originally, Jack was going to be dead and Matt was going to be an orphan but I got drunk somewhere around page 18 and drunk me decided to change that so I had to go back up to page 8 and change it.

As time goes on Yelena begins to feel as though she is truly a part of the Ranskahov family. Ivan and Ekaterina are always sure to introduce her to their friends and her teachers as their youngest child, their daughter. 

Yelena began to let her hair grow out when Ekaterina had offhandedly mentioned one night that she'd love to see Yelena's hair longer. A boy had developed a crush on her, or at least that's what her teachers had said when they'd seen him tugging on her braids. 

And though the teachers may have found his behavior cute, Yelena herself most certainly did not and the bullying had resulted in her keeping her hair cut short. And if Aleksandr shoving the boy into a wall was any indication, he didn't appreciate his younger sister being bullied either.

A day later and the boy's school books are missing and Vladimir and Aleksandr look far too smug before running off much to her amusement. It was an odd thing to see Aleksandr without Nikolai, but still quite amusing.

Aleksandr and Nikolai are close, Yelena is sure that they are each other's favorite sibling. Neither are overly fond of sports or extra activities. They'd actually much rather do school work. When any of the other Ranskahov siblings need help with homework, Shura and Kolya are the ones they go to. 

Many a time Vladimir and Yelena had been able to get the two boys to do their homework assignments for them. 

Vasily and Vladimir seem to only have a handful of things in common with the main thing being that both like hockey. The blonde child is a much bigger fan by far though and will prattle off for what feels like hours when Vasily asks him questions about his teammates. But Vasily seems to enjoy it, encouraging his youngest brother to talk to him more and sometimes giving advice. 

He also enjoys listening to Anatoly when Anatoly talks about ballet and had even seemed interested, albeit a tad lost, when both Yelena and Anatoly begin to talk about the sport. 

Anatoly is the one who typically takes Yelena to ballet practice. He says since he's already going that he'll just tag along with Yelena. 

It's in ballet class that she meets Natalia who is known as the best ballet dancer in the whole studio. Yelena doesn’t understand why she flushes when Natalia looks at her but glares and vows to herself to crush the redhead into the dust. 

But as time goes on Yelena finds herself wanting to talk to the redhead girl. 

She’s learned that Natalia is two years her senior, making her Vladimir’s age, and that she has a younger brother who shared the same name as a boy she dated once she and Yelena were well into their teenage years. The other girl has a particular love for snow. And her perfume smells of peaches and vanilla.

Yelena is eighteen when she finally gains the courage to ask Natalia to go out with her. She does not yet feel comfortable calling it a date and Natalia seems to understand that.

Natalia is the one who makes the first move. Eyes moving and taking in everything and anyone around them and only when she sees that they're completely alone at the park does she gently tug on Yelena's hand and move closer, eyes moving from Yelena's eyes to her lips and back to the deep brown once more. She moves forward, head tilted up and leaving more than enough room for Yelena to move away if she isn't comfortable.

But Yelena slowly tilts her head and moves closer until their lips are meeting.

The kiss doesn't last too long and Yelena is the one to break it, face flushed from the kiss and not the cold. Natalia walks Yelena home and once she leaves, Yelena goes to her and Vladimir's room and lets her fingers rest on her lips, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

Natalia begins to come over a bit more under the pretense that she is tutoring Yelena in her school subjects. Ekaterina just raises an eyebrow knowingly as she watches the two girls go to the bedroom but doesn't say a word and continues to get food prepared for dinner.

She pretends to not notice that both girls look disheveled, hair slightly tangled and Yelena's shirt on inside out while Natalia's is backwards and lips bright red. Her reasoning to herself on why she isn't saying anything is that of, ' _ Elenushka will tell me when she's ready.' _

Vladimir is the first and only one to catch Yelena and Natalia together after a year of them being careful. He barges into the shared bedroom, eyes glued to his phone screen until he hears Yelena let out a startled yelp from the door being thrown open.

Vladimir takes in the sight of Natalia straddling Yelena, one hand up the blonde girl's' shirt and the other tangled in Yelena's short hair. Yelena has one hand down Natalia's pants and the other up her shirt. A few moments pass then Vladimir drops his phone to the floor in favor of placing his hands over his eyes and practically sobbed out, "My eyes! Why?!"

Natalia very slowly untangled her hand from Yelena's hair and rolled off of the blonde. While Yelena just continued to watch her brother and best friend cry about how he was now scarred for life. 

"You're such a drama queen," she finally drawled out as she fixed her shirt back into place as Natalia adjusted her own clothes.

Vladimir scoffed but stopped his whining and removed his hands from his eyes. "Did you have to do that in my bed though?! Have you done that in my bed before?!"

Yelena's answer was to look up at the ceiling and shrug. And Vladimir let out an annoyed groan.

"You have your own bed, Lena!" A pause and then he scowled. "Be like the Spartans and hang a damn sandal on the door next time!" Then he turned sharply and left the bedroom once more, completely forgetting that he was going to grab his wallet and go out for the evening.

Natalia snickered as she heard Vladimir's footsteps walking away. "You and your brother have an interesting relationship."

Yelena scoffed, but couldn't make her own amused smirk disappear from her face. "Is that what we're calling 'annoying' now?"

The two sat side by side on the edge of the bed for a few moments more until Yelena asked, "So do you want to make out some more?" Natalia laughed, bumping her shoulder against Yelena's arm. And Yelena grinned almost evilly. "Or we can go through Vova's phone since he left it?"

They were together for just over a year and a half when Yelena finally admits to herself and eventually to Vladimir because she trusts him so much that she and Natalia are dating. Another three months and Natalia is telling Yelena that she's going to school in New York for a year as a foreign exchange student.

And Yelena had been sad, not quite comfortable with long distance but willing to do it for Natasha. She would not be the reason that her girlfriend held herself back from doing anything, even if it meant that she couldn’t be with her for a while. 

They skype every day. Send cliché texts to each other of how much they miss the other, good mornings from Natalia when it's late for her but still the early hours for Yelena, and good night texts from Yelena at the early hours of the day when she receives the good mornings from her girlfriend.

Yelena is twenty and meets Matt, the new foreign exchange student from America, on the way to class. She directs him to his correct class and the two end up having a few classes together as well as being the same age, she learns.

It's a surprise to Ekaterina when she comes home from work one afternoon to see Yelena and a boy with hair that isn't nearly as bright a red as Natalia's hair but still a nice shade of auburn, doing homework together. But she ultimately just thinks that perhaps her daughter had made a friend that wasn't just Vladimir and Natalia since the redheaded woman is studying abroad after all. Ekaterina hums in pleasure, glad that her daughter is seemingly making friends.

Matt comes over more and more often, always being brought to Yelena and Vladimir’s room to study with his classmate and newfound friend. He never stays for very long, only stayed for dinner a handful of times really and only at Ekaterina’s persistence and Yelena told him that it was a stroke of luck that he’d yet to run into all of her brothers since they always seemed to be at work whenever he came over to study.

Matt had laughed and shrugged. “I don’t have siblings. My best friend, he has a lot of siblings though. Well, two sisters,” he says, his accent heavy as he tries to pronounce the words correctly. 

It seemed that no matter how hard he practiced and tried, the words still came off his tongue as though he were choking and he hoped it didn’t sound as bad to his hosts as it did to him.

Ekaterina found him adorable and told him that he should come over more often, speaking just a tad slower for him just to make sure he could understand her.

Yelena is happy to have made a friend that isn’t her girlfriend or brother and is monotonically telling Natalia about Matt and how she has a friend on one of their skype dates.

Natalia laughs out, “Don’t sound so sad about having a friend, Lenosha.”

When her girlfriend wrinkled her nose, Natalia rolled her eyes. 

“I’m not sad. I am very happy,” Yelena said, head tilted slightly in confusion. She did have a habit of sounding bored and looking annoyed even when happy. It was a habit she’d had as a child that she’d developed even before living in the orphanage and it was just something she never truly grew out of.

Natalia gives her a small fond smile. “I know, zvezda moya. I am just picking with you.”

Yelena nods and tries to bite back a yawn. Natalia hears it anyway and gives her a half stern half amused look. “Go on ahead and go to sleep, Lenosha. I’ll talk to you when it isn’t three in the morning for you.” And with that said, she blew a kiss to the sleepy blonde and ended the skype call. 

Yelena chooses to ignore Vladimir’s usual nightly groan of, “Thank god. I’m buying you earbuds for Christmas, Lena.”

~oOo~

It’s nearly October and once again, Matt is over doing homework with Yelena and being told to stay for dinner by Ekaterina. And once again Matt finds himself unable to tell her that he couldn’t bare to be a bother and ends up staying. 

It’s the first night Ekaterina really brings up any of her sons. It had always been Yelena who first spoke about them. 

“How old are you, Matvey?” She asks, taking his plate from him after they’re finished eating dinner.

“Uh, twenty,” Matt answers, still not used to her wanting to do everything and still wanting to help out, his father had raised him right after all. But Ekaterina had made it very clear that Matt was the guest and therefore did not have to help clean up after dinner or do anything really.

The Russian woman grins to herself. “Only two years younger than my youngest son!” She said excitedly. “You should stay later tonight! Meet Vova. You two can talk about school o-”

She’s cut off by Yelena giving her an odd expression and, “Vova doesn’t go to school?”

Yelena either doesn’t get the look that her mother is giving or just doesn’t care. Ekaterina is willing to bet that her daughter doesn’t understand and therefore isn’t as upset as she would be otherwise.

But she continues trying.

“My son could use friends. He does not go out often,” Ekaterina says.

Matt frowns, brows furrowing in confusion. “Oh. I am sorry?” He hopes he doesn’t look as lost as he feels like he does. 

Yelena rolls her eyes. “Mama, just because Vova and I share a room doesn’t mean I have to share my friend too.”

Ekaterina just barely manages to stop herself from facepalming as her daughter leads Matt to the door. “Goodbye Matvey,” she says almost sullenly.

Matt just gives a small wave. “Bye, Mrs. Ranskahova!”

She sighs but can’t help but be just a tad amused. She figures she’ll try again the next time Matt is over. She’s rather fond of the teenager and thinks he could use a few meals. And she thinks that he and her youngest son would get along rather well. If her son could manage to be polite for longer than five minutes that is.


	3. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter Ekaterina was probably thinking to herself, "Lena, stop talking. Mama is trying to get your brother laid."
> 
> This is probably one of my favorite bits in this whole thing btdubs.

As the year moves on and it gets closer to Christmas, Ekaterina begins her usual round of telling her six children to bring a guest over for Christmas dinner. 

"I want to meet your girlfriends!" She says, placing bowls of kasha on the table in front of each of her children. A pause and then a subtle glance to her youngest son who is staring into his glass of orange juice looking half dead. "And your boyfriend of course." 

Yelena, thinking this had been directed towards her, snorts but quickly covers it with a very obviously fake coughing fit. "Sorry, Mama. Tickle in my throat."

Nikolai scoffs but hides it by taking a large bite of toast. He flinches just a bit as Yelena lands a harsh kick to his shin under the table.

Ekaterina decided to ignore all of this shenanigans in favor of turning her attention to her eldest son. "Whatever happened to you and Ira, Vaska?" 

The brunette just looked at his mother, unsure of how she would react to him and Irina breaking up after so many years of dating. "We ah..." He shrugged and looked over at Aleksandr, silently pleading with his eyes for his younger brother to help him.. But the younger brunette avoided his gaze purposefully and continued to shovel food into his mouth.

Anatoly snickered into his bowl of kasha but froze once their mother turned on him. 

"And what about you, Tolya? Where is your girlfriend?"

The brunette seemed to shrink slightly in on himself. “I don’t have one, mama,” he said, sounding sullen only because he knew his mother would give him a look of pure disappointment.

So it’s no surprise when she does exactly that and gives a quiet ‘tsk’ under her breath. “You are all getting so old! Your mama just wants to have grandchildren to love and spoil!”

Anatoly rolled his eyes and gave his mother a very unamused look. Then glanced over and smirked ever so slightly as he took in the sight of Vladimir falling asleep. “Mama why don’t you ask Vova about his girlfriend?” He asked loudly, jerking Vladimir back to world of the awake.

Vladimir was so busy with jerking to attention and kicking his brother that he didn’t notice how his mother gave her second eldest son a look that clearly stated,  _ ‘Because I’m not stupid.’ _ She was no idiot, she knew her children very well actually, and had known that Vladimir was gay since he was eight and had known that Yelena was a lesbian since soon after the child had been adopted.

Yelena took this as her opportunity to grab a piece of toast and sling her backpack over her shoulder. “I have to go to school. Class starts soon,” she said, already making her way to the door.

~oOo~

Yelena actually nearly forgets about the breakfast conversation until lunchtime when Matt asks her what she and her family are doing for the holidays.

The blonde groans and places her forehead on the table and Matt raises an eyebrow in curiosity but just slowly takes a bite from his sandwich.

“Holidays with the family that terrible?”

“Not really, no.” She bit into her sandwich and it went silent for a few moments. “My mama is just doing her usual round of ‘why can’t any of my children bring their loving mama home a wife and in Yelena’s case a husband’.” Yelena said, proud of herself since she’d done a rather good impersonation of her mother.

Matt just laughed. "I'm sorry. I would help if I could," he said, offering her a sheepish apologetic grin.

He didn't think there was anyway for him to help her and for a moment, neither did she. But then she looked at Matt in surprise as an idea began to form in her mind. 

She didn't feel comfortable telling her family, Vladimir aside, about how she was dating Natalia and had been dating the other woman for the past two years. And she knew Vladimir didn’t feel comfortable about telling their family about his sexuality as well. It had been one thing they’d talked about when she first told him she was dating Natasha, late at night when the rest of the house was fast asleep. They wanted to tell their family but just weren’t sure about what their reactions would be. Especially with how religious their mother was and how old fashioned their father was.

So as the idea begins to form and play out in her mind she smirks in pure glee before reaching across the table of the booth she and Matt were sitting at and cupped Matt's face in her hands.

"Oh my god," she breathed out. "Matt, you're perfect!"

The American just raised an eyebrow and tried to gently remove her hands from her face with no such luck. "Th- thank you? Yelena, we've talked about this. Personal space."

He sighed as he felt her move closer to the point where he could feel her breathing out. “What’s that?” She asked.

"Yelena, please?"

Yelena shook her head with a small groan. "No, you don't understand, Matt. You're perfect. You. Be my boyfriend." She demanded, staring at him so coldly that Matt could practically feel the temperature drop a few extra degrees. 

"I'm so scared," Matt blurt out, unable to think of a better response.

This seemed to be the point where Yelena grew exasperated with him and he sighed in relief when she finally let go of his face and sat back in her seat. 

"My pretend boyfriend, you idiot."

Matt just tilts his head a bit. "Why? I think your mom will realize that I'm not really your boyfriend the moment we were to tell her."

To an extent, Yelena knew this was true. But she shook her head and tried to think. 

"No," she said, "you come over a lot. We hang out a lot."

Matt nodded, seeing truth in this. He remained skeptic. "Yeah, but for school, Lena."

She just rolled her eyes. "But you're still over a lot. She loves you. She has no reason to not believe me really." She could tell he still wasn't swayed just yet. "You'll get to experience a Russian Christmas with my family. Mama always makes so much food."

At the mention of food Matt perked up. "Well I am a glutton for food."

Yelena smirked but it quickly fell into a frown as she looked him over. "Yeah and you eat so much." She narrowed her eyes as she glared at the food, as if it were the sandwiches fault that Matt was so thin. "Where the hell do you put it all?" Matt gave a shrug, biting into his sandwich. "You're almost skinnier than me. That's just not even right."

~oOo~

  
An hour later and Yelena is leaving her last class and messaging her girlfriend on Telegram.    
  
Yelena: _ I may have done something stupid but it was in the name of pure genius. _   
Yelena:  _ And I didn't want to make my mama sad. _   
  
Natalia is typing...   
  
Natalia:  _ what did you do Lenosha? _ __   
  
Yelena:  _ Mama was giving grief about how none of us have a wife and in my case husband to bring home so I talked to my friend and he agreed to be my pretend boyfriend. _ __   
Yelena: _ It's genius! _   
  
She can picture the look that Natasha is surely giving her, amusement mixed with mild disbelief. A glance back down to her phone and she sees she has three messages from the other girl.   
  
Natalia:  _ your friend the foreign exchange student? _ __   
Natalia: _ howd you manage that? _ __   
Natalia: _ also i hope you know your mama isnt dumb. shes going to know immediately that youre lying  _ __   
  
Yelena just rolls her eyes and begins hurriedly typing.    
  
Yelena: _ 1) why can you never use correct grammar? Stop all of that. _ __   
Yelena _ : 2) my mama isn't going to catch me. I'm amazing like that. _ __   
Yelena: _ and 3) Matt agreed because I bribed him with food. _   
  
Natalia is typing...   
  
Natalia:  _ i hope this doesnt blow up in your face _ __   
Natalia: _ and that you have great holidays now imagine me blowing you a kiss you loser _   
  
Yelena:  _ That's gay. _   
  
Natalia is typing...   
  
Natalia:  _ romantic. video call me later tonight sunshine? _   
  
Yelena:  _ Of course, starshine. Have a good day. _   
  
Natalia is typing...   
  
Natalia:  __ you have a good rest of your day Lenosha.   
  
Natalia sent a picture   
  
Yelena smiled softly as she saw the picture of her girlfriend blowing her a kiss and quickly saved it before closing out of the app.


	4. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It only took about 12 pages but Vladimir and Matt are finally meeting.
> 
> Yelena Belova is about zero percent chill, bless her lil heart.
> 
> Again, I have way too much fun writing for all these siblings yikes.

Once again, Matt is coming over to study with Yelena, and knowing how Ekaterina was he'd probably end up staying for dinner as well. Half an hour into studying and Yelena groans and stands from her spot on the floor.

"I'm getting snacks. This math homework is making me cry and I need Mama's cookies if I want to be happy," she said, not even giving Matt enough time to think of how to properly say a response before she was shutting the door as she left the room. 

Yelena is in the kitchen, hidden by the wall, when Vladimir comes home earlier than usual. He doesn't even notice her, thinking the noises coming from the kitchen are his mother, and heads straight for his bedroom. 

Thinking that Yelena is the only one home since he doesn't think she has friends he begins pulling his shirt off and yells, "I'm stripping Lena! I feel gross so cover your eyes!" As he’s already unbuttoning and unzipping his dirty jeans.

He throws the door open and promptly drops his shirt to the floor as he sees someone who is most definitely not his sister lying in his bed. Vladimir hurriedly shuts the door, re-opens it, closes it, and opens it once more.

It's decided that yes, there is indeed a pretty boy not only in his room but lying in his bed as if he belongs there, and no, Vladimir is not imagining things and it takes every ounce of Vladimir's will power not to scream and instead say, "Who the fuck are you?"

Immediately he mentally swears at himself. 

"I mean, what the hell are you doing in my room?" He asks, more like demands really, gruffly and sounding very annoyed to Matt.

Matt just shrugs slowly. "I"m studying with Lena?" It comes out far more questioning than he intended and he jumps slightly when the other man lets out a loud laugh.

"Ha! My sister does not have friends! Try again!" Vladimir yelled back. He frowned when the other man just rolled his eyes at him and continued to stare right past him, completely ignoring Vladimir.

"You must be one of the brothers that Lena has told me so much about, right?" 

For the first time Vladimir catches that he has an accent and he can't help the small shiver that goes through him. It’s a nice accent, thick and making the words sound just a tad odd as the college student spoke.

Matt rolls his eyes, a small smirk dancing at the corner of his mouth. "Let me guess which one you are. Can't be the oldest, she says he's pretty level headed. Or the other one. I forget all of your names." Matt snaps his fingers as a look of recognition flits across his face, "You have to be the one who's just a year, or was it two? Older than her."

Vladimir raises an eyebrow, impressed but un-amused nonetheless. "And you are?"

"Matthew." Matt holds his hand out in the direction where he can hear the Russian and hopes that he's looking at him and not at the wall. "Matt."

Vladimir slowly takes Matt's hand, confused as to why Matt was holding it too far to the right. 

"Vladimir," he introduces himself, proud of how steady and unwavering his voice sounds.

Matt nods. "I remember now. I always get you and Vasily mixed up. Names I mean. And Aleksandr? And Anatoly. Those two I get mixed up also."

"What all has she told you about me exactly?" Vladimir asked. He really just wanted to make sure it was nothing bad. Though he was sure that there were multiple stories she could have told Matt about him.

Matt shrugged and turned his attention back to his text book and ran his fingers over the page, not really as focused on the text as he appeared to be. "Not much. Just that your head is huge because of your, oh what did she say… Uhm over inflated ego? Did I pronounce that right?” Matt asked, brows furrowed together in concern as he mouthed the words that he was sure Yelena had used multiple times in describing Vladimir. 

Vladimir's jaw dropped in shock. "That bitch," he muttered under his breath. Matt smirked in amusement as he still just barely heard the mutter.

It was at this time that Yelena showed back up, a plate of cookies in hand. "Who's a bitch?" She asked, nibbling on a cookie and raising an eyebrow in amusement as Vladimir jumped, letting out a startled yell. 

Vladimir shoots her a small glare, not really annoyed but just putting up the pretense that he is. Something she understood and caught immediately as she always did.

"You, you whore," Vladimir snapped. "Telling random strangers-"

"He's no random stranger, Vova," Yelena interrupted, rolling her eyes. "He's my friend."

"-that I have a huge ego!" Vladimir finished as though he'd never been interrupted. A pause and then he was giving an exaggerated huff of, "And you have never mentioned this friend of yours before!"

"Yes I have. You just don't listen to me."

Matt just barely muffled his laughter. He was an only child and the only other siblings he had really been around were Foggy and his sisters and truthfully, the Nelson siblings were nothing like Yelena and Vladimir.

"Vova, why the hell are you half naked?!" Yelena asked finally, nudging his shirt that lied on the floor with her foot.

Matt raised an eyebrow in amusement but decided that it would be best to keep silent for now.

Vladimir shrugged sheepishly, giving Matt a side glance. "At least my pants are still on?" He tried to defend himself.

Yelena rolled her eyes. "Vova, your pants are about to slide off."

Vladimir crossed his arms. "They are not." 

"Really?"

He gave a nod and she took this as her queue to reach over and with the hand not holding her plate of cookies, she yanked on his pants and smirked as they pooled around his ankles.

Matt bit his lip but it did nothing to stop the smirk from growing. He couldn't help but be amused as he heard the tell tale sign of someone getting pantsed.

“Nice underwear,” Yelena drawled out, smirking in amusement. “I love the ducks, you ugly duckling.”

Vladimir made a face, pursing his lips and huffing with a light flush dusting his cheeks all the way to the tips of his ears. "Great. Now he's seen my underwear!" Vladimir huffed out, unable to look Matt in the face now, and reached down to pull his pants back up. This time he zipped and buttoned them.

Yelena raised an eyebrow at him, confusion painted on her face as clear as day. "Matt is blind, Vova." She said as if he should have known.

Vladimir slowly looked away from his sister to the college student who was far too amused and still lying in his bed. Matt gave a small wave and shrugged nonchalantly.

The past few minutes play back in Vladimir's mind; how Matt hadn't once looked him in the face, how he'd held his hand too far right, how he hadn't seemed the least bit fazed at Vladimir's state of undress upon entering the bedroom. How he didn’t seem to even notice Vladimir’s duck printed boxers.

"That..." He coughs to clear his throat and rubs the back of his neck sheepishly. "That actually explains a lot."

His sister just gave him an exasperated look and shoved him towards the door, causing for him to nearly trip over his pants. "Get out already."

Vladimir flailed a bit, nearly knocking things off of the dresser as he tried to catch his balance. "Wait! Lena, stop!"

But the younger girl just scowled and gave another particularly rough shove. "No, Vova. Get out. I'm studying. Matt and I have finals and need to study."

Matt laughed as he listened to them bicker once more.

"This is my room too!" 

"I don't care! I am studying! Leave!" 

Vladimir glanced down to the plate of cookies that Yelena still held. "He's going to get cookies in my bed!"

Matt immediately quit snickering and made to get up. "Is this your bed? I always just assumed it was Lena's. I can get up?"

"No, that's fine," Vladimir said quickly, looking Matt over and letting his eyes linger on his form. "You can stay right there."

Matt cocked his head slightly, awkward grin frozen in place. Yelena gave Vladimir an amused smirk and mouthed, 'Thirsty, much?'

To which he stuck his tongue out at her and mouthed back, 'Eat me.'

She made a gesture as if she were gagging and kicked him in the shin. Using the fact that she had made him lose his balance, she gave another harsh shove and slammed the door shut. There was a loud noise that Matt assumed was Vladimir falling to the floor and he have a sympathetic hum.

"Go shower! You smell like cars and you stink!" Yelena snapped, biting into another cookie. 

Vladimir rolled his eyes and shoved the door back open. "I need my clothes, you snot." He didn't even wait for her to move, just shoved past and ignored as she huffed at him for nearly knocking her cookies out of her hand.

It's silent for the most part now but for the sound of Yelena eating her cookies and Vladimir digging through his dresser for a clean pair of boxers. He moves over to his bed and nudges Matt’s arm gently to get off of his pillows.

Matt scoots over quickly, brows furrowed as Vladimir reaches under the pillows and takes his shirt out from under them. 

Vladimir snickers under his breath. "You're lucky. Usually I keep my underwear there too. Today I didn't."

Matt's jaw dropped slightly as he thought back to all the times in the past when he had lied in Vladimir's bed with the other man's boxers under his head. Yelena smirked slightly as she saw Matt flush. 

"I will take one of these cookies as well," Vladimir said right before snatching a cookie away from Yelena's plate. He just barely dodged as she tried to bite him. "Have fun studying and being lame!"

The door slammed behind him and he let out a loud laugh, pleased with himself for bothering his sister so much but also hoping that he hadn't made too poor of an impression on Matt.

Matt waited a few moments before shaking his head. "Your brother is..." He trailed off as he tried to search for the correct word. "Interesting?" He finally settled on though questioningly. 

Yelena scoffed. "Is that what we are calling annoying as fucking hell?" She nibbled on another cookie and stared off into space thoughtfully. "I think that Vova likes you a little bit, Matt."

Matt sat up, pulling his book into his lap, and raised an eyebrow in interest. "Really? He just met me."

"He tends to not think with the correct head." Yelena finished off her cookie with a content sigh. She purposefully ignored as Matt choked and flushed. "Anyway, if he likes you, that is going to make this holiday so much more amusing because you're my boyfriend."

Matt snorted. "Lovely, you're using me for your own twisted form of entertainment" he scoffed out.

It wasn't a question but Yelena smirked and nodded none the less before saying, "You're damn right I am." 

Matt just rolled his eyes but laughed out, "Can I have a cookie?"

Yelena glanced down at the plate and saw that the rest of the cookies were gone. "I ate them all," she said slightly apologetically, but mostly sullenly.

"Even more lovely. Thanks for that, Lena."

~oOo~

Soon enough it’s dinner time and for the first time in four months Matt is meeting the rest of the Ranskahov family. Ivan owned a taxi company, Matt had learned one of the first few times he stayed for dinner, and his sons typically worked with him. According to Yelena, Ivan had told her on multiple occasions that if she wanted she could work there as well. But Yelena had told him she'd really rather not, though much more politely. 

From what she had told Matt he knew that Aleksandr and Nikolai enjoyed driving the taxis and had more than three times each been in a car accident of some sort. Vasily and Vladimir much preferred doing work on the cars and often came home covered in car grease, Vladimir more so Yelena had told Matt. "It's because he's sloppy." And Anatoly, well Yelena had said, albeit jokingly, that he was too prissy and liked doing paperwork with their father for the company. 

So needless to say Matt had never really met any of them as they worked late most days. He felt a bit awkward and out of place as everyone sat down around the table, introducing themselves to him and then arguing playfully over who was sitting where as they grabbed plates.

"Vova, go put on actual clothes," Vasily complained, wrinkling his nose in distaste as he took in the sight of his youngest brother in only boxers and a t-shirt.

Vladimir just rolled his eyes as he took a plate full of food from their mother. "Why? I hate pants."

Yelena quickly leaned over the table and gave him a high five and Matt raised an eyebrow in amusement as he heard.

"Pants are for losers," Yelena said, giving Vasily a pointed look. He just rolled his eyes at her light jabbing.

"Lena, you're wearing pants therefore you too are a loser-"

Anatoly made an 'ooh'-ing sound and snickered as Yelena shot him a glare.

But Vasily continued as though he'd never been interrupted. "-and we have a guest, Vova." He gestured towards Matt, who just gave an awkward smile. 

Vladimir raised an eyebrow before smirking and stating simply, "He's blind. I don't think he's going to care too much about my lack of pants." He let out a startled yelp as his mother quickly popped him on the back of the head for being rude. Of course she knew that it was only a matter of time before he was rude she still hadn’t expected it to be this early into the meal. But much to her joy Matt just bites his bottom lip in a failed attempt at hiding his amusement.

"Good," Aleksandr muttered under his breath with a muffled snicker. Though not quietly enough since Ekaterina heard him and shot him a small glare. Aleksandr hurriedly turned his attention to the plate in front of him. "The food, I meant. That's what's good. Not you hitting Vova, Mama."

"No, that's great," Nikolai whispered. Both men tried to hide their snickers by eating. 

Anatoly just rolled his eyes but even he couldn't hide his pleased smirk. 

Their mother on the other hand just shook her head, not really in the mood to go around delivering smacks to each of her adult children. Ivan did as Anatoly had and rolled his eyes but quickly gave a stern look to his youngest son. 

"Vova, go put on your pants." 

Vladimir gave an exaggerated groan but stood up, his chair scratching against the floor as he stood. 

They all wait to begin eating until Vladimir is back. Dinner goes well, a bit of talk from everyone. They all talk about their day, Matt tries not to feel to awkward when they talk to him.

And it's not until dinner is nearly over that Yelena clears her throat and states half questioningly, "Mama I have something to tell you. If it is still alright that we bring home the person that we are dating for Christmas?"

Ekaterina grins, leaning forward and thinking that Yelena is going to say that Natasha will be back in Moscow for the holidays. She was rather fond of the red haired girl and thought that she and her daughter were very cute together. She also thought that perhaps her daughter was finally coming out to her. 

But instead Yelena continues speaking and says, "I'm bringing my boyfriend home for Christmas if that is okay?"

Matt freezes, not knowing that that was how she was going to bring it up and he tries his best to not look like he's lying.

Everyone else freezes and gives Yelena a confused look. Which she thinks they are just confused because she's never brought a boyfriend home before. She doesn’t realize it is because everyone had been so sure that she was a lesbian and were now completely unsure of what to do or think. 

Ivan drops his fork and doesn't even seem phased when it clatters from his plate to the floor. Anatoly actually chokes and Nikolai hurriedly smacks him on the back. Vladimir looks at Yelena, eyebrow raised and eyes narrowed in a clear, 'What the hell are you doing?'

But Yelena doesn't even spare him a glance and plays with her napkin in her lap with her right hand. "Matt and I have been secretly dating," she says dryly, simple and to the point. 

It's dead silent, so quiet that Yelena and Matt are both positive that everyone can hear their hearts racing, but finally Anatoly seems the first to shake off his surprise. 

"Oh? That's... great? How, uh, how long have you two been together?" He asks, confusedly. He had been so sure, just as everyone else had been, that Yelena was not only a lesbian but also dating Natalia. 

Unfortunately Yelena and Matt hadn’t covered the details as well as they thought they had and both open their mouths, fully prepared to say different answers. Yelena noticed, let go of the napkin she had been discreetly pulling apart, and gives a quick sharp pinch to Matt’s inner thigh, ignoring as Matt yelped softly and bit his lip. 

“Two months,” Yelena stated.

Ekaterina and Ivan share a look, clearly surprised but prepared to be supportive as usual. And so Ekaterina is quick to tell her daughter that of course Matt is more than welcome to come for Christmas dinner and that she's so happy for them both, though slightly annoyed since she hadn't been told about her daughter's boyfriend before hand.

Yelena had offered a quiet apology, accompanied by a sheepish grin. 

Once dinner is over and Matt is long gone, Yelena goes to hers and Vladimir's room to gather her clothes for a shower but instead nearly punches Vladimir right in the face when he yanks her back into the room, surprising her to where she drops her clothes in the middle of the hallway floor.

"What the hell, Vova?!" Yelena hisses out, just barely audible enough for him to hear as he shuts the door.

Vladimir narrows his eyes at her. "Lena, you're a lesbian!"

She just stares right back at him before slowly nodding. "Yes?"

This does nothing to calm Vladimir down and instead frustrates him more. He waves his hand at her, gesturing to her whole being. "Lena, you are a lesbian!"

"That explains so much," Yelena said, staring past Vladimir with her eyes wide and looking as though everything in the universe suddenly made sense. "Oh my god. Do you think that that is why I prefer licking over sucking?"

Unlike her, Vladimir was not nearly as amused as she so clearly was and shook her by her shoulders just a bit. "Lena!"

"What?!" Yelena slowly narrowed her eyes and nodded once more. "Yes, I think that I am very well aware that I prefer the vagina over the penis. What exactly is your point?"

Vladimir pointed behind him to his bed, clearly meaning when Matt had been lying in it. "That boy is not your boyfriend!" He huffed out.

She just raised an eyebrow, arms crossing over her chest. "I know."

"Then why the fuck would you bring him home and tell Mama that he is your boyfriend?!"

It was very clear that Vladimir was interested in Matt and Yelena couldn't help but to smirk as she saw his face turning red in annoyance.

Yelena shrugs once more, completely unfazed and actually seeming smug which only made Vladimir that much more annoyed. "He wanted free food and I wanted for Mama to get off my back about not bringing home a boyfriend. It was a win win situation for the both of us." Vladimir huffed, unable to be too upset with her logic and she just smirked even more as she saw him huffing. "Why? Are you jealous?"

Vladimir said nothing, just stared right at her, as clear an answer as anything. He's rescued from having to answer as a knock on the bedroom door interrupts them.

"Is there a reason why Lena's pajamas are on the floor?" Vasily's voice calls, confusion dripping from his tone as he stares at the pile of clothes.

"Vova's just an idiot!" Yelena calls back, smirking as Vladimir huffs in annoyance.


	5. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can't tell me that Natasha 'says beep beep to pedestrians' Romanoff wouldn't make "In Soviet Russia" jokes or call Starbucks 'Tsar-bucks'. Just sayin.

The next afternoon Matt doesn’t expect anything out of the ordinary. He suspects that he’ll probably meet up with Yelena for lunch since that is typically what they do but is surprised when instead of Yelena’s voice calling his name he hears Vladimir’s.

“Matvey! Matvey!” Vladimir calls, jogging to catch up to the blind student. He’s only slightly out of breath from the running, mostly from nervousness, when he finally stops beside Matt. “Where are you going?”

Matt shrugs, biting his lip for a moment before answering, “I was going to go for lunch. Sometimes Lena and I get sandwiches. What are you doing? You have work don’t you?”

Vladimir shrugs, shoving his hands into his pockets as they walk beside each other. "I do, but I'm on a long lunch break?" He doesn't sound very sure and Matt notices, eyebrow raised in amusement much to Vladimir's chagrin.

Vladimir coughs to clear his throat. "Would you like to get coffee? Starbucks is nearby, so my treat if you want?"

A few moments of silence as Matt thinks it over. But then he shrugs and accepts the offer. They make small talk as they walk to the nearest Starbucks. Matt making a joke and calling it 'Tsar-bucks' only for Vladimir to scoff and roll his eyes. 

"As if I haven't heard that one before. Try again. Maybe you'll have better luck next time." 

Matt laughed. "I'll keep that in mind."

Vladimir perks up just a tad more as he takes this to mean that Matt will get coffee with him another time as well. The snow falls slowly, sticking to the ground and glittering. 

A pause as they walk in silence and then Matt is asking, “You’ve heard that joke a lot?” He sounds just a tad disappointed. 

Vladimir scoffs. “Lena and her.. friend? Yeah, friend, they tell those types of corny, lame jokes. Natalia is oddly fond of Soviet Russia jokes.” He beams when Matt laughs and they fall into a comfortable silence.

Soon enough they're walking into the overly priced coffee shop, the smell of coffee being brewed and people talking loudly nearly overwhelming Matt but he lets out a sigh of relief as he and Vladimir walk out of the cold.

They order the same drinks, mocha mint cappuccinos because Matt said that mint makes him more into the holiday spirit, and they sit at a small table in the corner and continue with small talk. 

It begins to feel like an almost date the more they talk. Matt talks about what he's in school for, why he was interested in Russia and the language and why he'd come there to school for a year. Vladimir talks a little bit about his job, ignores as his phone buzzes in his pocket, and talks about how he's excited for the holidays.

“Lovely surprise from you and Lena last night.”

Matt cocks his head slightly, expression slightly puzzled. “Oh? Did she not tell you all that we are dating?”

Vladimir snorts, rolls his eyes, and says dryly, “Yeah, you could say that. I’m actually willing to bet that you aren’t even really dating Lena," Vladimir states, sipping from his coffee and staring at Matt expectantly.

Matt just smirks a bit. "Oh? How do you figure that? I could be."

Vladimir scoffs, nearly chokes actually, and says sarcastically, "Yeah, the day my sister and best friend dates a man is the day that I date a woman." He says it quietly, just loud enough for Matt to hear, and he looks around nervously just in case anyone had heard.

Matt raises an eyebrow, a light flush dusting his cheeks. "Oh?"

Vladimir doesn't think about it, just shrugs. Then mentally smacks himself as he realizes that Matt can't see him. "Yes. So I know that you aren't dating her. She’s about as gay as they come."

Matt takes a small sip from his coffee as he thinks about a response but finally he just shrugs. "Alright, yeah, you got us. I'm not dating her. She bribed me with food. Why do you care?"

"I don't," Vladimir lies right through his teeth and he hopes that he doesn’t sound too excited. He doesn’t want to get his hopes up about Matt possibly being interested in men but he can’t help it. 

Instead of slipping and asking Matt more questions like he really wants he barges ahead with, "We are going to be decorating the house this weekend for the holidays. I'm sure that Mama would love for you to come over." 

Matt holds his cup between his hands, taking comfort in the warmth that radiates from it. "I think that'd be fun. Shouldn't my 'girlfriend' be offering for me to come over, not her brother?"

Vladimir wrinkles his nose, eye twitching just a bit in mild annoyance. “Probably. But just in case she doesn’t, you’re welcome to come over.” He drummed his fingers lazily against his cup, eyes only leaving Matt’s face to look around the busy shop.

Matt slowly nodded. “Alright. Thank you.” 

They finish their coffees in silence and as they’re leaving Matt shivers and hates that he hadn’t saved any for the walk back to the school. Vladimir instantly notices his shivering and quickly removes his scarf in order to wrap it around Matt’s neck.

Matt gingerly reaches up to touch it, eyebrows furrowed. “Uhm thank you. Aren’t you going to get cold though?”

Vladimir shrugs. Then quickly huffs in annoyance at himself. “Sorry. I keep…” he breaks off into a sigh. “No. I’ll be fine. When you next come over just give it back. My mama made me that.”

“That’s cute,” Matt blurts before he can think and grinning.

It takes all of Vladimir’s willpower to not shove the blind college student into the snow and instead mutter, “I’m not cute.”

When Matt laughs Vladimir flushes softly, exhaling in mild annoyance.

~oOo~

Much later finds Matt and Yelena at a small restaurant, Yelena staring at Matt in hidden amusement, not that it matters much, with one brow raised.

"Nice scarf you've got there, Matt," She teases dryly, interrupting him.

Matt flushes just a bit and rolls his eyes, which she doesn't see because of his dark tinted glasses. "Your brother let me borrow it. It was freezing earlier."

Yelena munches on her fries and rolls her eyes and they fall into a silence. Only for it to be broken by Matt's quiet, "I think that he is kind of nice." He says it slowly, accent just a tad thicker than usual in very apparent nervousness and very obviously trying to search for the correct words.

Yelena just snorts ungracefully. "About as nice as a rabid raccoon," she snickers out.

Matt rolls his eyes but doesn't say anything else regarding her brother. Her brother that he thought had a really nice voice. A voice that, if he were being completely honest, he wouldn't mind listening to for hours.

He's so lost in his own train of thought that he doesn't notice that Yelena had been talking to him until she's snapping her fingers right in front of his face, the snapping noise yanking him back to the present. 

"Good. Now that you're back with me, you're coming over this weekend, right?" She asks, frowning as he looks lost. 

Matt just nods. "Yes? Vladimir invited me earlier when he let me borrow the scarf." He huffs in mild annoyance, mostly embarrassment, as Yelena snickers at him.


	6. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why I titled this damn thing 'Love Is Christmas' when they're celebrating New Year's Eve.
> 
> I don't know why but I love my fluffily stupid headcanon that smol kid Vladimir and lil kid Matt were space nerds. So... yeah. That happened.

The week passes by relatively quickly and soon enough it's the weekend. Matt knocks on the Ranskahov family's door and waits, impatient and cold and raising an eyebrow as he hears someone yell from within the house. A moment and then the door is being opened.

"Oh, hello Matvey," a voice that Matt is unable to fully recognize. "It is 'Matvey' right?" The same voice asks, sounding confused and a tad worried. 

Matt slowly nods. "Uh, Matt, really."

"Anatoly," the voice re-introduces himself. He moves so that he's no longer blocking the door and gestures for Matt to come in. Then winces as he takes in the sight of Matt's deep red glasses and cane. He coughs to clear his throat. "You can come in if you'd like, Matv- Matt."

Matt grins and enters the house, sighing in content as the inside of the house automatically warms him up a considerable amount. He's still not fully prepared to take off his coat though.

Before he can take anymore steps towards Yelena's room, Anatoly taps him on the shoulder. 

"Huh?"

"Your shoes, Matt," Anatoly says laughing softly as Matt flushes slightly. 

Matt begins toeing his shoes off, uttering more to himself than to Anatoly, "I always forget." But Anatoly just laughs good naturedly and goes back to the kitchen where his mother is. He doesn't see as Matt tugs Vladimir's scarf from his coat pocket and hang the coat up where he knows the coat rack to be.

"Matt is here," Anatoly says as he re-enters the kitchen and prepares to help his mama bake once more.

Ekaterina just hums in thought but decides not to say anything, just humming again when Anatoly looks at her oddly.

Matt on the other hand, folds his cane as he makes his way to Yelena's room. The way is familiar, up the stairs, careful for the fifth step since it creaks loudly and is always annoying, down the hall just a few steps and the room to the right. This time is different though and he doesn't make it down the hall before two bodies are colliding into him and sending all three of them crashing to the floor with a loud bang.

"Ouch," Matt mumbled, shoving at the body on top of his. It doesn't budge at all.

"Shura, get your scrawny ass off of me so I can get off of Lena's boyfriend," a voice that sounds very similar to Anatoly's mutters into Matt's chest.

A groan from the third person, Aleksandr, and Matt breathes in relief as the weight on top of him becomes significantly lighter. 

The body on top of Matt yelps as Aleksandr nudges him with his foot. "Get up then, Kolya!" 

A huff from Nikolai and finally Matt can breathe easy. He rolls to his knees and begins searching for his cane and Vladimir's scarf, both of which get handed to him by Nikolai and Aleksandr.

"Is this Vova's scarf?" Nikolai asks curiously, looking it over before handing it to Matt. 

Slowly, Matt shrugs and takes the offered scarf. "Is it? I can't tell." He lies, tone dry, taking his cane as Aleksandr taps him with it. 

The two brothers just share a look but decide that the ownership of the scarf really doesn't matter and decide to go downstairs to help prepare the snacks for decorating.

Matt waits until he's alone before rolling his eyes and knocking on Yelena's bedroom door. He doesn't have to wait long before the door is being opened and Yelena is dragging him into the room and shoving Vladimir out. Matt can’t help but snicker softly as he listens to Vladimir complain as he walks away. Matt swears he hears Vladimir say something about, ‘pretty boy’, and he makes a face. 

Yelena shuts the door with almost a slamming noise and turns her full attention to Matt, slipping her cellphone into her pocket and ignoring for the moment as Natasha sends her messages on Skype; it wasn’t often that they used Skype, both preferring Telegram over Skype. “Alright so here’s the plan.”

~oOo~

Things do not go according to plan at all, Matt is quick to realize. Yelena does not act like a very good girlfriend. And though it was true that he did not have much to base good girlfriend skills on, he was almost ninety-two percent sure that instant messaging your actual significant other while your brother probably flirted with your supposed boyfriend right in front of your family was not how things were done.

The family begins decorating by doing a full scale cleaning of the living room. Sweeping then mopping the wooden floors. Cleaning the circular carpet that rested in the center of the living room floor. Dusting the bookshelves and behind the furniture. Ekaterina cleaned the windows and then Ivan and Vasily began hanging bright red drapes in the dining room. 

Vladimir was the one who had told Matt the colors of the drapes when Matt had given a confused and worried expression as he heard Vasily let out an annoyed yell when the curtains fell on him.

"They, the drapes I mean, are a very bright red," Vladimir stated as he took the couch pillows back from Matt. He paused as a thought hit him. "You... do you know what red looks like? Or..." He flushed in embarrassment, worried that he had offended the American. And he scowls as Anatoly smacks his arm, giving him a stern look as if to say, 'What the hell, Vova?'

But Matt just laughs and says slowly, "I wasn't born blind. I lost my eyesight in an accident when I was nine." A pause and then as if he weren't really thinking about it, "Red was my favorite color."

Vladimir nods, making a note to himself. Red had never been a favorite color of his but now, now he was sure he wouldn’t look at it the same. 

Throughout all of this, Yelena has long since abandoned sticking beside Matt in favor of taking pictures of everything from the cookies that her mother and Anatoly had baked and decorated to pictures of them all cleaning to pictures of her father and Vasily struggling to hang the drapes, all to be sent to Natasha.

Yelena:  _ I think Mama made gingerbread cookies. _

Natalia is typing...

Natalia:  _ ooh good shit right there. my fave <3<3<3 _

Yelena rolled her eyes before she began typing away furiously.

Yelena:  _ There is an emoji for that. Why do you do taht?  
_ Yelena:  _ *that _

Natalia is typing...

Natalia:  _ because it makes you flustered and therefore makes me happy _

Yelena:  _ I don't think that 'flustered' is the right word. _

Natalia is typing...

Natalia sent a sticker...

Yelena rolled her eyes and had to bite her tongue to keep from laughing as a picture of Putin appeared, blowing a kiss. A buzz from her phone and a picture of Vladimir Putin winking made Yelena look up to the ceiling, as if she were praying before typing back to her girlfriend.

Yelena:  _ Why are you like this? _

Natalia is typing...

A buzz from the phone.

Natalia: __ i think theyre funny. i like these stickers  
Natalia:  _ also i have to get going. i have shopping i need to do  
_ Natalia:  __ i love you <3<3<3

Yelena:  _ G A Y  
_ Yelena: _ I like your face _

Natalia is typing...

Natalia:  _ r o m a n t i c. bye honey _

Natalia sent a picture...

Yelena was unable to stop herself from groaning, a small smile tugging at the corners of her mouth, as she saw the picture of Putin blowing a kiss once more.

She didn't notice as Nikolai gave her an odd look as she groaned and had very obviously not been paying attention at all as Vladimir continued trying to subtly flirt with Matt. But Vladimir on his good days was about as subtle as a gun and everyone, Yelena excluded, had picked up on that he was flirting.

Matt, for his credit, was smiling and being polite and at the very least not being nearly as obvious that he was flirting right back. In his defense, his flirting could just be classified as being nice. Which he was more than happy with.

The tree was a hassle that Matt was very glad he didn't have to deal with. There are many grunts of annoyance that made Matt raise his eyebrow in worry.

"Wouldn't it just be easier if you had a fake tree?" He asked softly, not wanting to offend the family. 

Vladimir looks at Matt in pure shock but quickly shakes his head. "No," he says just as quietly as Matt had, "it's tradition. We've always had a real tree. The fresh smell is just... it's like a symbol of the new year. It always smells good and then with the mandarins. Ahh,” a soft sigh as he thinks about it. “It’s the best part of the year.” He shrugs, knowing full well that Matt won't see it but unable to stop himself anyway.

Matt nods in understanding, arms crossing over his chest. "I see."

An amused scoff from Vladimir. "You really don't."

Matt turns to give Vladimir a look full of shock, mouth open slightly and eyes wide with brows high. Vladimir covers his face with one hand, the other on his hip. 

"I'm so sorry," he whispers.

Matt just lets out a laugh of, " _ Ass _ ," in English. Vladimir tilted his head, smirking slightly as he understood the word. His English wasn't the best, he wasn't afraid to admit that, but the very first words he had learned in the language were the swear words and he understood Matt perfectly.

A crashing noise from the tree falling interrupts them and makes both jump slightly, Matt bumping into Vladimir, and Ivan lets out a loud stream of swears before sighing.

Vladimir holds Matt steady until he sees Anatoly looking at them, eyebrow raised in confusion. Then Vladimir is shoving Matt away from him, keeping eye contact with his elder brother, giving a wince in sympathy when Matt slips and hits the floor with a yelp. 

Anatoly's jaw drops as he watches his youngest brother do what appears to be bullying.

Everyone turns their attention to them, the tree falling once more and Ivan and Vasily both cursing under their breath.

Vladimir covers his mouth with one hand and mutters barely audible, "I'm so sorry."

Matt just forces a smile as he begins picking himself up off of the floor. "It is, uh, it is fine? I'm okay? I think I just slipped because of my uhm," he points to his feet and makes a face as he struggles to remember the word but finally settles with English. "My  _ socks _ . On the floor. It, the floor I mean, kind of... wet? No, uh, slippery?"

He brushes non-existent dirt from his jeans, a soft blush dusting his cheeks as he can feel everyone still staring at him. He knows his accent has just been painfully thick because of his nerves. Everyone slowly turns their attention back to the task at hand; getting the tree to stay standing.

Ekaterina slowly glances to her daughter only to see Yelena's attention glued to her phone as she takes pictures of the fallen tree. 

"Are you alright, Elenushka?" Ekaterina asked worriedly. She was no idiot, she was a very smart woman and was very proud of this and of her children who were all just as equally smart as she was. And she knew her children very well and knew that her youngest son was quite infatuated with her daughter's boyfriend and she wasn't sure how to go about reacting.

Her question yanks Yelena's attention away from her phone. 

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Do you want to take a selfie with me?" Yelena asks, holding her phone up, the camera showing them both on the screen. "You can say 'hi' to Natasha if you'd like."

Ekaterina tilts her head but grins brightly. "How is Natasha? I miss her! When is she coming back from America?"

Immediately her daughter begins talking about the redheaded woman and how Natasha is fairing in New York. How Natasha had made a friend with another man her age named Clint. How she only had a few more months and then she would be back in Russia. Yelena brightens up considerably the more she talks and it's the first real clue that sets in stone for Ekaterina that something isn't right between her daughter and Matt.

Finally, after much struggle and many curses from everyone, the tree is standing and everyone is giddy with excitement, fully prepared to decorate the tree. 

Yelena continues to babble about Natalia to Ekaterina as the two of them began decorating, setting Ekaterina’s old nesting dolls onto the fireplace mantle.

Ivan slips outside to smoke. Anatoly being not nearly as discreet and ignoring as his mother shot him a glare as he followed after his father. The tree had been a hassle for them all after all and Anatoly thought it fair that a smoke would put him in much higher spirits.

Vasily, Nikolai, Aleksandr, and Vladimir begin pulling all types of ornaments from the box; old toys and baubles and lights alike.

A quick glance over to his sister and Vladimir is happy to note that she is much more interested in taking pictures of the nesting dolls and sending them to Natalia than she is in telling Matt about what they're doing and he's quick to take the opportunity to do so in her stead.

He looks over the ornaments and grins brightly as he sees some of the family's favorites all of which were from when he was a child. A ballerina dancer that belonged to Yelena, another that belonged to Anatoly. An angel that wore a beautiful shimmering white dress that was always his mama's favorite. A skier that belonged to Nikolai. And his personal favorite, a cosmonaut.

Vladimir picks up the cosmonaut and one of the egg shaped ornaments and takes them over to Matt. He takes Matt's hand and places the cosmonaut in it. "This one was my favorite when I was a child," Vladimir explains, watching as Matt carefully traced his fingers over the toy. "When I was small I liked to pretend that they lived on the tree."

Matt grins cheekily. "Cute." A huff from Vladimir and he laughs softly, face turning down in an attempt to hide his grin. "I know. You're not cute. Except that you sort of are." He smirks as Vladimir scoffs at him.

Vladimir takes the cosmonaut back and looks it over. "I wanted to go to space when I was a kid. Yuri Gagarin was my idol. He was the first to go to space, you know?"

Matt nods in understanding. "I wanted to be an astronaut when I was in third grade. I got really very into space and uh memorized? Yeah, memorized a lot of the constellations and all the planets. It was kind of very sad," Matt said, laughing a bit at himself. "My dad always humored me though. Bought me a lot of science books."

Vladimir practically beams the more that Matt talks. 

"He even got me those cool glow in the dark stars and stuck them all in my room for me. I think they're still on my ceiling actually. Neil Armstrong always seemed so cool to me. Who wouldn't want to walk on the moon? That was some impressive shit," Matt says with a grin.

Vladimir nods in agreement before handing Matt the egg shaped ornament and watched as Matt gently ran his fingers over it.

"It's red," Vladimir said. Matt nodded, fingers trailing against raised lines. "And that is like a bright gold glitter."

Matt grins and continues tracing it over. It's smooth, cold to the touch and feels like glass, the raised parts feel slightly rougher. It's small and fits right in his hand and the shape is much like an egg. He goes to hand it back but Vladimir closes his hand over the ornament and shakes his head.

"You can keep it."

Matt looks up in surprise. He can't see the ornament but he's sure that it's gorgeous and that he shouldn't take it and he says just as much. "I can't take your ornament."

Vladimir laughs and pushes Matt's hand away, ornament still clasped in Matt's hand. "Keep it, Matvey."

Matt bit his bottom lip, not sure what to do. "Are you sure?"

"I wouldn't have offered if I weren't, now would I?" Vladimir assured him. "It can be like a souvenir of your time here." Matt just smiled back and quietly thanked him, accent making the word come out a tad odd. Vladimir couldn't help but chuckle a bit as he turned his attention back to the task at hand; decorating the tree.

Anatoly and Ivan make it back in just in time to help put the lights on the tree and the family of eight plus Matt begin decorating. Vladimir was quick to put Matt in charge of just handing out ornaments the very moment Matt began mixing the baubles so that they were next to colors that clashed horribly.

Ivan laughed as he watched Matt make a face at Vladimir but handed ornaments over nonetheless. "Vova, don't be so controlling," he gently chided his youngest son.

Vladimir scoffed and set to the task of moving the ornaments that Matt had stuck on the tree. "He was putting the pink next to the red. Right next to each other. I won't stand for that mess."

Anatoly snickered and whispered to Matt, "Ignore him. He's just a control freak."

Vladimir didn't even flinch, even as Matt and his siblings began snickering. "I heard that, Tolik!"

"Good."

"Mamochka! Tolik is being a bully!" Vladimir called, smirking as he heard Anatoly let out a groan while Nikolai and Aleksandr snickered. Vasily coughed in order to hide his own snicker but couldn't hold the laugh back when Yelena did her best impersonation of Vladimir.

"Mamochka! Mamochka! Tolik is being mean to meee!" She practically sang out, dodging effortlessly as Vladimir tossed a pillow at her. He rolled his eyes, acting more annoyed than he really was, as his brothers and Matt laughed.

Ekaterina rolls her eyes fondly as she watched her children but decides to stay out of their arguments for once and instead watches the scene before her. Decorating for the holidays were always her favorite part of the year. 

Once the tree is finished being decorated, this year with it nearly falling only once during the decorating process, she heads to the kitchen for the cookies, Vladimir following after her, hot on her heels just as he always had when he was a child. He begins making hot chocolate while Ekaterina gets the mugs from the cabinet. 

As they're in the kitchen the rest of the family begins hanging up a few things of mistletoe. One just a few feet in front of the front door, one over the entrance way from the living room to the kitchen, and another right in the center of the living room.

Small talk takes place between the two blondes in the kitchen as they wait for the hot chocolate to finish. They talk about the snow and Vladimir says he's ready to make snow-men and how he may talk Vasily into playing a game of hockey with him soon. Ekaterina says that would be nice and then grins even more as she looks into the living room and says that this year the house looks even more beautiful than usual.

Vladimir agrees, pouring the drinks into the mugs set out for him and they make a few trips from the kitchen to the living room. It's on their second and last trip from the kitchen when Vladimir gets caught under the mistletoe with his mother.

Ekaterina laughs jovially as her children begin teasing Vladimir.

Vladimir rolls his eyes and takes a few steps away. "I'm too old for this," he says, sticking his nose up just a bit.

"Vovochka, you get back over here and give your mama a kiss!" Ekaterina laughs out.

Her son makes a big deal of it, sighing dramatically before turning and giving his mother a kiss on the forehead. He grins as she sighs happily, pleased.

She moves to sit right beside Ivan on the couch, pressing close and humming in pleasure when he wraps his arm around her shoulders. They share a happy look before turning their attention to their children and the decorations.

It feels nice, the atmosphere feels happy and cozy. Just as the holidays should. 

Vasily is lying under the tree, a slightly dazed and content expression painted on his face as he takes in the sparkling multi-colored lights and toys and baubles. He scoots over as Aleksandr slips to lie right next to him.

Aleksandr grins and points up, careful not to knock anything off the tree. "There's your hockey player, Vaska!" He says cheerfully. He grins as he sees Nikolai's skier and his favorite glass bear not too far away.

It's not much longer before Nikolai is crawling to lie on Vasily's other side, being careful to not knock over the figures of Ded Moroz and Snegurochka as he does so. 

Yelena and Matt sit a few feet away from the tree, both sipping on their hot chocolate. It takes them a few moments to remember that they're supposed to be acting the part of a couple but then they quickly scoot a tad closer, very clearly tense but hoping that everyone will perhaps just think it's because they're not an overly affectionate couple.

Yelena takes a picture of the tree and her brothers, gives it a caption of 'my fave losers', then sends it via snapchat to her girlfriend. She nudges Matt. "Matt, take a selfie with me."

Matt raises an eyebrow but gives a quick, very obviously fake, grin and looks just past her. Yelena tilts his head so that he's in the correct position and raises her phone to take a picture.

"There you go," she says, trying to decide on a filter that she liked.

Matt rolls his eyes, which goes unnoticed because of his glasses, and says sarcastically, "Right. Because I knew that."

Vladimir just barely manages to bite back a laugh at the sarcastic tone from Matt.

Yelena snorts, settles on the flower crown filter, and takes the picture. 

The longer that Vladimir watches them, the more annoyed he becomes. He knows that Yelena and Matt aren't really dating but it still annoys him to watch them act the part of a couple. He wants to be the one making Matt laugh like that. Wants to be the one sitting that close to him, taking pictures with him.

Instead of lingering on these thoughts he sets his mug on the coffee table and nudges Nikolai with his foot. "Scoot over and make room, loser."

With a bit of shuffling, the three brunettes under the tree all scoot over in order to make room for Vladimir.

Matt hums in thought as he takes a sip of his hot chocolate, nose wrinkling at the taste. "Did you use milk or water?" He asks, taking another sip of the hot drink.

"Water," Vladimir answers back, staring up at the lights. It was a stupid question, in his opinion. Hot chocolate always tasted better with water and that was just common sense.

But Matt makes a face. "Why would you use water? Milk tastes better,  _ you savage. _ "

Vladimir doesn't fully understand what Matt just called him but he can understand an insult when it’s thrown at him and he laughs none the less and glances over at Matt. "Because it tastes better with water. You're the one who's wrong."

He grins as Matt laughs, eyes closing as he listens to Matt blow softly on his drink. Ekaterina frowns but bites her tongue. 

It’s a few hours later that Ekaterina wonders, not for the first time, what her two youngest children are playing at.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My favorite game for this has been 'how many times can Vladimir get sassed and it still be okay?'

It had started simply. It was really nothing actually, everyone taking their now empty mugs to the kitchen, when Aleksandr and Matt got caught under the mistletoe together. 

Yelena laughing and chanting out, "Oooh! Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Which had prompted Nikolai and Anatoly and Vasily into chanting it. Which had made Vladimir freeze and stare at his brother and newfound crush.

Ekaterina rolled her eyes fondly as she dried the now clean mug that Ivan handed her. He laughed and nudged her, "Your children."

She huffed, looking much like Vladimir would when he was trying to act annoyed. It was quite obvious where he had learned it actually. And Ivan just laughed once more.

Matt had laughed and tried to tell Yelena to stop while Aleksandr had rolled his eyes, blew a raspberry at his sister, and pressed a quick peck to Matt's cheek.

Matt had blushed, nearly dropped his empty mug, and Vladimir only saw red.

The next thing that Ekaterina and Ivan heard was Aleksandr yelping right before there was a crashing noise and many yells from the other grown children in the living room.

"Vova, get off of Shura!" Vasily yelled, rushing over and trying to drag his youngest brother off of the brunette. He grunted as Vladimir elbowed him right in the center of the chest before continuing to try and smother Aleksandr with the couch pillow.

"Do you want to go in there?" Ivan asks, moving on to wash the plates that were stacked in the sink. He breathes a sigh of relief when his wife just shakes her head.

"Not really. I think that, since they are all adults, they can handle this on their own," Ekaterina says, drying the plate as it was handed to her. Ivan nods in agreement.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Anatoly and Yelena began chanting as they watched Vasily go back to trying his best to drag Vladimir off of Aleksandr.

Aleksandr flailed, shoving at Vladimir as best he could but only managing to smack at the blonde's shoulder. "Vova, get your ass off me, you snot!" Aleksandr's yell came out muffled. "Someone get him off me! He's trying to smother me!"

While Nikolai tried his best to drag Aleksandr away from their fuming brother. "Vova, come on! What the hell?!"

It takes much struggle but finally Vladimir is dragged off of Aleksandr. He tosses the pillow right at Aleksandr's confused face and huffs. "That... that was all for Lena's honor?" He says, not sounding very sure and actually much more jealous than he thought he would.

This doesn't escape anyone's attention and Matt feels his ears grow warm.

Matt licks his lips and shuffles just a bit in spot. "I think I should probably get back to my dorm. It's getting a bit late."

"I'll drive you!" Vladimir quickly offers, eyes wide and bright. "Mama! Have you seen my keys?!" He calls, unable to remember if he'd left them in the kitchen, in his room, or in his jeans from the previous day.

But Ekaterina just laughs and yells back, "Ah, hello person who does not drive my car! Have you seen my keys? You hear how ridiculous that sounds, right Vova?"

As everyone else whistles, or snickers, or just out right laughs, Vladimir slumps from Vasily's hold to lie on the floor.

Yelena takes pity on her brother and gestures to the stairs. "They're in your nightstand, idiot."

"Thanks," Vladimir says, hopping up and moving up the stairs quickly. Matt waited patiently, thanking Ekaterina for allowing him to be a part of the festivities and the snacks as he tugged his coat back on, then letting Vladimir lead him outside towards the car. They don't even make it to the car before Matt unfolds his cane and sticks it out to his right, smirking gleefully as he heard Vladimir yelp and crash to the snow covered ground.

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Matt practically sang out, tone admitting that he was anything but sorry. "I didn't see you there."

Vladimir snorted, just barely resisting the urge to shove Matt into the snow. But he figured it was fair considering how just a handful of hours prior he had pushed Matt to the floor. That didn't stop him from scoffing out in annoyance, "You did that on purpose."

"Whaaat?" Matt denied, eyes wide but the smirk still tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Vladimir rolled his eyes and unlocked the car. "Be careful walking to the other side. No, I'm being serious," Vladimir said, pointing to the passengers side when Matt scoffed. "There may be ice over there."

With this warning in mind Matt was a bit more careful as he made his way to the passengers side. The drive to the campus isn't very long, mostly spent with snide comments to each other about how to properly make hot chocolate and it isn't until Vladimir is pulling to a final stop that Matt snaps his fingers and turns in his seat so that he's better facing Vladimir.

"Your scarf, by the way, I leave, no sorry, left?" Matt asks, brows furrowing as he tries to think of how best to phrase his sentence. He normally wasn't this bad with the language. He struggled, yes, but it wasn't until he was with Vladimir and nervous that he began messing it up terribly. "I left your scarf on your bed at home. Thank you for letting me borrow it."

Vladimir let a small smile grace his face as he looked at Matt. "Anytime, Matyusha," he said, the name slipping easily.

Matt's breathing increased just slightly as he ran the nickname over in his head repeatedly. "I should probably go," he breathed out.

Vladimir nodded. "Door is to your right," he responded, just as quietly as Matt had.

Matt nods and gives a small wave before stepping out of the car. Vladimir waits a few moments more before beginning the drive back home. He kicks his boots off, moves past his parents, and goes upstairs to his room just to find Yelena lounging on the top bunk.

She gave him a look that was far too smug for his care and tapped her phone, switching the camera on it so that it was now filming him rather than her. "Say hi to Natasha, Vova."

Vladimir just gave a small wave. "I'm about to change into my pajamas so unless you want your girlfriend to see me almost naked, turn the damn camera back to your stupid face."

Yelena huffed but tapped her screen once more. "Vova's had a hell of a day. He likes Matt." She gave a brief run down of the day's events. "And then he tried to kill Shura and it was beautiful, Natasha!"

Vladimir rolled his eyes as he heard Natasha laugh along with Yelena.

"And all for my honor because Shura kissed my 'boyfriend'," Yelena continued, laughing as Vladimir tossed a pillow up at her. "You missed, brother dearest."

"Ha ha ha," Vladimir snapped back. "And go to hell. I don't see why you had to choose him for your fake boyfriend."

She just gave a shrug. "I don't see why you had to get a crush on him."

It was here that Natalia interjected with, "Why don't you two just tell your mother the truth? She's not an idiot." Both blondes gave her looks that very clearly stated 'hell no', Yelena to the camera and Vladimir to the phone though Natalia couldn't see it, and she raised her hands in surrender. "Or fine. Keep suffering. I'm just saying, this is going to blow up in your faces sooner rather than later."

Vladimir snorted. "Whatever. I'm going to bed. You two better not be sexting all night again," he snapped out before turning the lights off.

Yelena stared at her phone screen for a few moments longer. "You wanna sext?" She asked, humming as Vladimir groaned in the bottom bunk. 

Natalia just laughed and shook her head. "It's getting late for you actually, Lenosha. You need to sleep. Or at the very least should. I love you." 

"That's still so gay."

"Goodnight," Natalia laughed back, blowing a kiss to her camera.

Yelena pretended to eat the kiss before giving a small wave. "Sweet dreams, loser."


End file.
